The Cornhuskers were not intimidated by Kansas State’s No. 14 ranking on Tuesday night.
Nebraska brought a physical game into the Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan., and caught KSU off-guard in the first half. The Wildcats woke up in the second half, took the lead and never looked back, winning 51-40.
NU Coach Connie Yori said even though her team held Kansas State to its second-lowest scoring output of the season, Nebraska’s offense did not pick up the slack.
“Hopefully the next time we hold somebody to 51 (points) we win,” Yori said. “We don’t have enough production offensively. This isn’t about effort. We’re playing people reasonably close … we’ve just got to keep playing hard and hopefully turn the corner on the offensive end and make a few more shots.”
NU jumped out to an 8-4 lead four minutes into the game thanks to junior Yvonne Turner’s two baskets. Both squads would battle down low and force turnovers as the half wore on. A Kansas State three-pointer tied the game at ten and the Wildcats started gaining momentum.
However, NU junior Cory Montgomery, who’s known for her post play, hit the lone Husker three-pointer at the 3:55 mark to tie the game at 17-17. Montgomery had a game-high 21 points and six rebounds. Nebraska then went on a 9-2 run to close out the half and took a 23-21 lead into the locker room.
At the end of that stretch, freshman Harleen Sidhu committed a traveling violation with 50 seconds left on the clock. KSU junior Ashley Sweat scored two of her 18 points on the other end to tie the game at 21-21.
Nebraska took the momentum back when sophomore Dominique Kelley threw the ball off Kansas State defender Branshea Brown’s back on an in-bounds play with four seconds left. Kelley scored easily, marking just the second time this season the Wildcats have trailed at halftime.
Montgomery said she was pleased with the defensive effort and that the high-low lob pass was a big part of the Husker gameplan.
“We knew that we had the advantage to go inside on them and score on them because they were six feet (tall),” she said. “We just tried to utilize that and the guards and some other players made some great passes inside to me.”
Nebraska shot better than KSU in the first period by a margin of 39 to 33 percent. The game was so low-scoring because of the 21 combined turnovers in the first half.
Montgomery didn’t cool off to start the second half, scoring on another lob pass from Turner during the first possession to push the Husker lead to four points.
However, the Wildcats kept clawing as junior Kari Kincaid opened with five straight KSU points. The game changed at the 15:30 mark when Kansas State stretched its lead to six after a three-pointer. Immediately following, Nebraska committed a quick turnover and Kansas State went on an 8-0 run and eventually opened up its lead to 14 points at the 8:40 mark.
The Wildcats didn’t look back as they capitalized on their offensive possessions while slowing down NU on offense.
Nebraska took 25 shots in the second period and made seven of them. The Big Red did not score in the last five minutes of the game until senior Tay Hester scored as time expired.
Kansas State, at one point in the second half, went on a 23-5 scoring run. The Wildcats had multiple players step up and contribute. Sophomore Shalin Spani made three three-pointers off the bench for KSU.
With the win, Kansas State moved to 18-1 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12 Conference. Nebraska fell to 10-9 overall and 1-5 in the league.
Next up, the Huskers travel to Boulder, Col., to square off with the Buffaloes (9-8 overall, 1-4 Big 12) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
jeffstraub@dailynebraskan.com
Women’s basketball loses close game to Wildcats
Published: Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, January 28, 2009
 "Photo: Andrew Lamberson")
Andrew Lamberson
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